What schools should I look at?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a junior now & I want to go as high as I can (ranking wise -- doesnt everyone?) my gpa isnt that great but my SAT scores are better. </p>

<p>Gender: Female
State: CA
Race: Indian
Hook: dad went to upenn</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA: 3.6 UW, 3.9 W (However I go to a highly rated "feeder" school. We had 6 kids get in early to Stanford this year out of about 150)
APs taken : World History (4), Computer Science (4), currently taking : Chem, Calc AB and US History. Senior year I plan to take : Bio, Psych, Environ. Science, Econ
My school doesn't rank. </p>

<p>Standarized Tests:
PSAT - 223 (NMSF)
SAT - 800 R, 800 W, 720 M (2320)
SAT 2s - 750 Math II, will take USH & chem this year</p>

<p>ECs:
4 years Varsity water polo (went to Junior Olympics summer before my freshman year & my team placed 9th overall)...probably gonna be a captain next year. got second team all league this year. (CA water polo is the best state for water polo in the nation fyi)
Red Cross : officer my soph & junior year. Organized basic aid classes to teach younger kids . on the youth executive board at the Red Cross chapter.
Hospital Volunteer - 100 hours so far. Junior Team Leader for Maternity ward.
WISTEM : 2 years member (women in science, technology, engineering & mathematics
Journalism: 3 years reporter -- written for multiple section in the award winning publication(Silver Crown award paper) & the online website (Gold Crown award). Will be editor next year (guaranteed)
7 years - kathak (indian classical dance) : I have performed multiple times
National Honor Society</p>

<p>Summer:
last year I went to the slums of Costa Rica to provide aid to the Nicaraguan refugees. I was very passionate about the cause (& it will be one of my essays). I received the Presidents Volunteer Service Award for my efforts.
this year I am hoping to get an research internship</p>

<p>Recs & Essay:
My recs are gonna be pretty darn good. I know my teachers think highly of me.
I'm a natural writer & also getting professional help with my essays so hopefully I can convey passion in them. </p>

<p>I would LOVE to be able to get into the best possible school I can get into. (ie Penn, Cornell, Northwestern, Tufts, UMich, NYU). Please let me know how you think I would look and what I can do to make my app better. Thank you so much!</p>

2

<p>Stats look good for almost any school, so to narrow it down, we want more info on what you’re looking for. Small or big? Urban or rural? East coast, west coast, or midwest? Prospective major? Any other quality you desperately want in a college?</p>

3

<p>EC and stat wise, you are a competitive applicant to any school. It really comes down to essays and teacher recs. Sometimes college decisions sometimes don’t make a whole lot of sense, for instance I got into MIT EA but deferred from UChicago, even though everyone thought my UChicago essays were better than my MIT ones. I think the reason for this is that what came though in my essays appealed more to MIT “fit”-wise. Moral of the story, find out what the culture is like at each school you are going to apply to, something that attracts you to that school and write about how that aspect fits with you, by telling this through a story or experience or how it aligns with your personal goals/personality. </p>

<p>You probably already know this, but as for teacher recs (which for a lot of top schools, carries a lot of weight in admission process) make sure the teacher/s like you and know you well and on a personal level. For example, the teachers I had write my letters, I was really close with, they helped me through some tough family times and also I had a lot of out of class discussions with them about various academic topics, so they knew I really liked to learn and wrote about my curiosity.(sorry for another one of my personal anecdotes, but I’m just trying to give context to my advice :slight_smile: ) basically you want the colleges to see something special about you, I mean really, there comes a point once gpa’s and test scores all begin to look the same to admissions people at these top schools, like what’s the real difference between a 2350 and a 2300? Try your best to stand out.</p>

<p>Good luck :)</p>

4

<p>thanks! to you both :slight_smile: </p>

<p>i thought my gpa was low – my school is pretty competitive but you guys both really helped. </p>

<p>summer wise, would it be better to take a class at a community college & get a good grade or do a research internship (im leaning towards the internship because it sounds more interesting)</p>

5

<p>to ryank: im looking to major in something related to science (probably pre med unless its really competitive). im leaning towards the east coast also. small or big wise, i want a medium or small sized school but also a somewhat spirited community. ive heard that darmouth is good for this but i know thats a huge reach.</p>

6

<p>Your GPA may be a concern. Does your school rank? Do you know what yours is and what schools students with similar ranks have gotten into? From most HSs a 3.6 UW GPA would be a problem for most of the colleges on your list. 6/150 in at Stanford is 4% of the class and if your rank is more like 25th percentile, then it makes it more difficult for people without knowledge of your HS to give cogent advice. Does your school have Naviance? It would give you a much better idea of how various schools would view your profile. Also, your guidance counselor should be able to help calibrate you. </p>

<p>Of course, if you could be recruited for water polo then there will be some slack for your GPA/class rank.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>Where do you rank, officialy or not? If you are top 10%, your best chance is going to be to apply ED to Penn. That’s the only time you’ll get the legacy boost.</p>

8

<p>im not in the top 10% of my class. & i only mentioned the 6 who got into Stanford early, 4 got into Harvard, 5 Princeton, 10 Penn, 3 Yale. & thats just early – they’re will probably be more. out of a class of 150 students, thats about 15% getting into top schools already. so if im top 25% will that be enough? </p>

<p>also wondering, how much does senior year gpa matter for colleges? students at my school tend to slack off majorly senior year so if i get good grades then would it help?</p>

<p>also i got a concussion my junior year which lead to major screw ups this year but ill explain that in my app. </p>

<p>do i have a chance for northwestern, tufts & cmu?</p>

9

<p>Is your choice of schools based solely on their rank and status? For me, that sends big red flags.</p>

10

<p>nope its not. but i do wanna know if i can get into these schools cos i know they’re pretty competitive</p>

11

<p>im not in the top 10% of my class</p>

<p>that’s going to hurt you. You also may be an ORM for some of those schools. </p>

<p>*so if im top 25% will that be enough?
*</p>

<p>NO, that’s not likely enough for a non-URM.</p>

<p>Will your parents pay full freight? If not, do you know if you qualify for the FA that you’d need?</p>

12

<p>thanks for your input. im hoping ill get into some of these schools since my school doesnt officially rank & my parents/i can pay for it. so it wont hurt the colleges official stats. what schools would you suggest? (that are better matches)</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I think you should probably think a bit more about what you want. There is a big difference between UPenn and Cal Tech, although they are ranked the same. You say you are looking for a small / medium school with a spirited community, but then you list NYU, which is pretty much the opposite of that. And I noticed you didn’t list any LACs. </p>

<p>You have a good shot at getting into some highly selective schools, but there are no guarantees at this level. And your chances will probably improve if you find some schools that you are genuinely passionate about, regardless of what US News says.</p>

14

<p>yeah the thing is…the atmosphere at nyu felt like a community to me & i feel like its actually pretty spirited. size isnt a huge factor for me as long as the school feels right. i just say small to medium sized cos typically thats what is best. i also liked ucla when i visited it but i absolutely didnt like uc berk. </p>

<p>& honestly i am gonna go to a school that im passionate about – like something i didnt include in this original post is that harvard is one of my safeties and thats ranked highly. </p>

<p>im still applying to a variety of different schools however & most of them have a surrounding environment which i like. also i have a lot of friends in college so i talk to them a lot / find out if the ones im similar to are happy where they are</p>

15

<p>bump bump bump.
also please read my last comment :)</p>

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<p>When you say Harvard is one of your safeties, I’m not sure you’re using “safety” in the way it’s commonly used on this site. People here use the word “safety” to describe a school that you are almost certain to get into. Unless your name is Eliot Winthrop Harvard the 10th, Harvard probably isn’t a safety.</p>

<p>It sounds like you’ve probably looked at most of the colleges people would suggest. Schools like Duke, USC, and Vanderbilt come to mind. Maybe Georgetown as well. Among the high reaches, take a close look at Princeton. Given your interests and background, you might want to look into studying public health at JHU. But for someone who likes Dartmouth, CMU, and NYU, it’s really hard to predict what will feel right and what won’t. Your best bet might just be to visit as many schools as you can and continue to talk to people you know who attend them.</p>

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<p>yeah i was using “safety” like that (sorta). the coach of the water polo team knows me well so he wants me to play there. the problem is i really dont like the feel of harvard so im not gonna go there (please no comments about how i dont understand what a great opportunity im wasting etc). its why i was kinda hurt when people said i was only basing my list on us news rankings.</p>

<p>Duke was my first choice(after Darmouth which I gave up hope on quickly) – i love the feel of the school, the town surrounding, the social/greek life & my friend who goes there tells me about this amazing professor she has. but do you think it would be too much of a reach?<br>
USC is a little pricey for me & i heard vanderbilt has some racism issues.
Georgetown is an interesting option : I like the surrounding atmosphere & the fact that the student body has a lot of club/IM sports. the social scene seems nice too without the frats so less drinking issues.
JHU is a definite reach IMO. </p>

<p>thank you so much for your help :)</p>

18

<p>Pologirl,</p>

<p>Awesome job on the SAT, and clearly your school is a feeder to the top colleges. Nice EC’s also. Re water polo, are you good enough to play in college? That might help at Ivies. Your rank is probably mitigated somewhat by your school, as it looks like from your post beyond the top 10% got into Ivy’s ED. Perhaps it is due to modesty, but compared to other applicants to top schools your classes do not look particularly difficult (especially for a person from a top feeder H.S.) and many by now will have much more than two 4’s on AP exams. I would be more concerned about class difficulty than GPA. Nevertheless, despite that caution, you look like a strong candidate for Tufts, NYU, and UM. In terms of prestige, I agree with Waverly, your best bet is to apply to Penn ED (took 47% of their class this year ED at over a 25% admit rate and you get a legacy boost). Good luck and agree with your assessment re doing research internship rather than community college class.</p>

19

<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I misinterpreted your first post. If you’re looking to see how high you can go, the answer might be “Harvard”. :-)</p>

<p>But I second muckdogs07 – would you be a water polo recruit at any of these schools? That could really help your chances.</p>

<p>I think you have enough of a shot at schools like Duke, Dartmouth, JHU, and UPenn that you should definitely consider applying if you really like them. Even if you come up short, you won’t be left wondering “what if…”</p>

<p>Is there a reason you aren’t looking at any LACs?</p>

20

<p>haha no problem :slight_smile: </p>

<p>the issue with water polo recruiting is that most of these schools don’t have water polo teams that recruit – they only have club or IM teams. princeton has a team but its top 20 in the nation so thats a stretch hahaha. it really sucks that these schools don’t have teams bc i feel like it would help my chances a lot & im gonna play in college for sure anyway so i want it to be with people around my skill level. </p>

<p>good advice :slight_smile: & the reason im not looking at LACs is because at first i thought that since i was science majored focused LACs wouldnt be a good fit. but now its mainly cos i don’t really know much about them – can you suggest any LACs that are good fits based on what ive said so far? thank you so much :)</p>